HVRSD SEPAC - Special Education Parent Advisory Council

04/25/2026

The Hoosac Valley Elementary community has lost a beloved student. This meal train has been created to help her family and since she was one of our families helped by SEPAC we wanted to share with all of you.

It is with a heavy heart that one of the most beautiful baby sharks to ever live has passed. Stephanie was a light in so many people’s lives. Please consider supporting her mother and siblings by donating or contributing a meal.

03/02/2026

The Federation for Children with Special Needs is hosting the Visions of Community Conference 2026 on Saturday, March 7 at 8:30 AM (virtual). This is the largest disability-related conference in Massachusetts and offers valuable information for families of children and youth with special needs.
Topics include:
IEP meeting strategies and the new IEP
Early intervention and supports for young children
Health and mental health
Transition to adulthood
Advocacy and family support
Sessions will be available in 50+ languages, and scholarships are available. There are also in-person watch party locations in West Yarmouth, Brockton, Pittsfield, and Amherst for families who prefer to attend in community.
Families can learn more and register at:

Join us for our annual Virtual Visions of Community 2026 Conference, which brings together parents, caregivers, educators, and professionals for an inspiring day of learning and connection.This year’s virtual conference will feature live workshops, expert speakers, and interactive sessions on issu...

12/08/2025

The Hoosac Valley Special education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) invites all families who have a child with an IEP to a special event on Thursday December 11th at 5:30.

Come join us at the HVMSHS library for our monthly SEPAC meeting where Andrew Rosenburg from NBCC will be helping families to create binders to organize IEP paperwork and speaking on the IEP process and how NBCC can support families with the IEP.

The group will also be sharing the IEP accomodations and goals that we have found most helpful and sharing ideas with each other to help parents feel prepared for IEP meetings. This is perfect if you are new to IEPs or a caregiver with a lot of experience to share.

Childcare will be provided

All supplies will be provided as well thanks to NBCC!

To make sure we have enough supplies on hand either message this page or email your number of children you want to make binders for and their grades or questions to [email protected]

10/24/2025

This looks like a really fun event in Adams this weekend, we know that for families with kids with disabilities it can be intimidating to attend these events sometimes, so we are putting out there that some of our SEPAC families will be attending and would love to see you all there. We can meet up and walk (or roll!) together and support our kids and each other in participating. Who wants to join us?

10/16/2025

For children who can’t or can’t easily say Trick or Treat or other Halloween phrases, here is a great resource!

Halloween is quickly approaching!

Our Assistive Technology Department has different communication bracelets or trick-or-treat social stories to help your child on Halloween.

Email Amber, our AT Speech-Language Pathologist for FREE communication resources for the holiday — [email protected] 🎃🤟🏻

06/17/2025

MEETING CHANGE!!!

Due to the wonderful opportunity the PTG is putting on to meet our new elementary principal on Wednesday at 5:30 when we were originally meeting, we have made a pivot that we hope might even let more people join us for our last meeting of the year!

We will meet at 6:30 (after the Popsicles with the Principal event) AT the elementary school in the cafeteria. So, if you come to meet the principal you can stay for the meeting or if you have an older student you can come join us just for the meeting.

We apologize for the changes, but hope this will accommodate most people and will be sure to pass along any meeting info for those who can’t make it.

06/15/2025

REMINDERS and ANNOUNCEMENTS!

Reminder: Monday at 6:30 at HVHS, SEPAC will be presenting to the school committee to let them know who we are, what we hope to achieve, and how they can help. Please join us if you are able. Also, please feel free to send in photos of your child(ren) to possibly be included in the presentation to [email protected]

Announcement: We apologize for the late notice, but we were informed we need to move our SEPAC meeting this week to Wednesday at 5:30 at the high school. We will talk about the school committee meeting, plans for next year, and any summer related issues. Childcare will be provided! Even if you have never been to a meeting, we would love for you to come and get involved.

04/10/2025

We just learned about the DESE Special Education Review Stakeholder Survey, this is different than the district evaluation survey sent to all IEP parents (Don’t forget THAT is due to be completed by Saturday!), but please consider taking a minute to fill out this quick survey to give DESE feedback about how well they work with families:

“Public Consulting Group (PCG) is partnered with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to support DESE in understanding the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the Office of Special Education’s structures and processes to inform recommendations. 𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐬, 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬. The following questions will ask you about your experience with the Office of Special Education. The survey will close on April 30th.”

Link to survey: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8238835/DESE-Special-Education-Review-Stakeholder-Survey?

DESE Special Education Review Stakeholder Survey.

02/06/2025

!!FEBRUARY MEETING RESCHEDULED!!

Due to the weather, our February HVRSD SEPAC meeting is being rescheduled. The new meeting date will be Thursday 02/27 at 5:30pm located at the Hoosac Valley Middle/High school library. We will send out an updated notice and Zoom link, you can always send us an email at [email protected] for the direct zoom link if that is easier for you. We are sorry for any inconvenience and hope everyone stays!

10/23/2024

Here are the meeting minutes for our October meeting.

Our next meeting will be held Tuesday November 12th at 5:30pm, located at the HVES cafeteria. The notice for our upcoming meeting will be posted in the next few days, which will include the Zoom link to join us virtually.